


Weapons and Meisters: A Five Times Tale

by danyaroo



Category: Servamp (Anime & Manga), Soul Eater
Genre: 5 Times, EAT class, Everyone mentioned at some point, Fluff, Gen, Injury, Kuro actually has to do things, Kuro growing increasingly attached, Kuro is bad at feelings, M/M, Mahiru is a competent meister, Meister! Mahiru, NOT class, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Platonic Relationships, Pre-Slash, Protective Kuro, Soul Eater AU, Swooning, Weapon! Kuro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2017-08-24
Packaged: 2018-09-14 05:14:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9163720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danyaroo/pseuds/danyaroo
Summary: After three years of going solo, the dual formed demon weapon, Kuro has finally ended up with a meister that might just stick around. A troublesome, nagging, trouble magnet of a meister that Kuro really doesn't know how to deal with but finds himself looking out for anyway.Five times Kuro helped Mahiru, whether the help was wanted or not, and the one time Mahiru returned the favour tenfold.





	1. To protect from unwanted input

**Author's Note:**

> A bit of familiarity with Soul Eater is probably needed for this but a few quick terms might help:
> 
> DWMA: Death Weapon Meister Academy, the school founded to teach young demon weapons how to use their abilities.
> 
> Demon Weapon: A person with the weapon gene that can turn their entire bodies into a weapon.
> 
> Meister: A skilled combatant with the ability to wield a demon weapon.
> 
> EAT class: The active combatant class consisting of the top 10% of DWMA students. Highly skilled pairs that can accept school issued missions and collect evil souls.
> 
> NOT class: The remaining 90% of the student body that are non-combatants.

Kuro had known this probably wasn’t going to work.

He appreciated a good ‘I told you so’ as much as the next guy but being right was actually working against him this time around.

After being a student at the DWMA for three years without a long term meister, despite countless meet and greets, bonding activities and dance classes, he’d admittedly been a little bit hopeful about the second year meister he’d met at one of the school’s yearly events. If nothing else, the plain but reliable Mahiru would stop the instructors pestering Kuro about partners, potentially give him reason to get out of the overly populated student dorms and get his siblings off his back.

He got too much attention already for being admitted as a first year at 16, a few years older than the usual first year age range due to him outright ignoring admission letters even as his siblings starting being admitted. So as a 19 year old third year, Mahiru was meant to make Kuro's life at least 20% more peaceful.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t.

They’d been sharing a dorm room for a week now and Kuro had to be honest with himself about their chances. He and Mahiru just probably weren’t going to last.

His new scrawny meister was a clean freak, he nagged himself breathless, nitpicked like it earned him extra credit and lord help them if Kuro so much as suggested they skip a class. Mahiru wasn’t a bad person, not even close, but Kuro was a peaceful soul. He couldn't deal with this much productivity and morning people were just... no.

The guy even wanted them to train before morning classes. What the hell was up with that?

Having a partner would have been nice, but as he remembered the bitter morning chill of his blankets being pulled away for the fourth morning that week, Kuro knew this really wasn't going to work out.

He and Mahiru just weren’t going to get along.

\----

1.

To Kuro’s surprise, he and Mahiru somehow survived the first six weeks of their partnership with neither of them calling it quits. Kuro still wasn’t really convinced they’d work out long term but he’d learned that if nothing else, Mahiru’s home cooking was a damn good reason to at least try.

He mainly did said trying by keeping his less than optimistic thoughts about them to himself and occasionally throwing out his empty snack packets, knowing Mahiru didn’t like the negativity or the mess. Holding his tongue was hard sometimes, especially when Mahiru was going on about something (why rant about crumbs when you like to clean?), but he was honestly trying and that alone was more conscious effort than he’d put into anything in a long time.

However, it was likely because of said effort that he’d found himself becoming somewhat irked lately when he heard others voicing opinions similar to his own. Seriously, what was the point of him keeping his mouth shut when uninvolved parties just blurted shit out instead?

Kuro asked himself this as he came across a few of Mahiru’s former NOT class peers talking down to his meister about their partnership. Only instead of having Kuro’s list of incredibly super valid reasons built from weeks of living with Mahiru to justify their words, they seemed to be implying it was because they thought Mahiru wasn’t good enough as a meister. That someone else would fit the position better. And that was just…

Just, no.

“Rina is the one with better wavelength control and experience with pole-arms.” Was the first full sentence Kuro had heard. “If anyone should be partnered up with someone like Sleepy Ash it should be her, not you.” 

“His name is Kuro.” Mahiru retorted flatly.

“Alex is really good with spears to and he said he was actually interested in asking Sleepy Ash to team up.”

“Kuro. Say it with me. Ku-ro.”

“Fine, Kuro! But what’s that got to do with anything?”

“Well if you’re all here to tell me how bad I am for him, you may as well call him by the right name.” Mahiru didn’t look too impressed with the confrontation but the way his arms were crossed showed he felt at least a little defensive about it all. 

“He only changed it because you made him! What kind of meister does that?”

“You think I forced Kuro?” His meister asked incredulously. “It’s a near unwinnable fight to get him to class on time but you think I can force a name change on him?" He shook his head. "Besides, all of his siblings changed their names in their first year. Have you ever asked if it’s just a thing they do when they get partners?” Kuro saw the logic fly over the other students heads as they ploughed on with their ‘its your fault’ angle. Mahiru was right though. He and his siblings weren’t huge fans of their title like names so they rather liked the schools system that let them change them. This year had been Kuro’s first time taking advantage of it though with the initial two year name lock since his admission having only just passed.

“But you made him partner up with you! How else would you go from a partnerless temp meister to being paired with an older student?”

“Uh... by attending most school organised meet and greet events, meeting him, asking him and getting a yes?” Mahiru said like it was simple and it honestly was. Kuro had wanted people off his back and Mahiru wanted a shot with a long term partner and now here they were.

“It doesn’t work like that, Mahiru!”

“Are you stupid? That’s EXACTLY how it works! That’s why the school organises that stuff in the first place!”

“Rina was really hurt by it though!”

“Oh for-” Mahiru made an inarticulate noise. “You’re making it sound like I stole someone’s boyfriend!”

“You practically did! Rina trained with spears just to appeal to him and you swooped in and took him! You don’t even have a weapon specialty!”

Kuro let out a sigh as Mahiru looked on the verge of pulling his hair out at the stupid direction the argument had taken. He wanted to let Mahiru handle things alone but he wasn’t the only observer so it was probably time to interfere before rumours started of Mahiru being a homewrecker between him and some girl he’d never even met. Shoving his hands deep into his pockets he rounded the corner he’d been slouched behind and approached the group.

“Oi, you’re being way too loud.” He found himself saying, using a tone of voice he usually only used on his younger siblings. “And quit bothering him, it’s home time.” 

“Kuro?!” Mahiru sounded surprised but mostly annoyed at his interference. Because gratitude. What was gratitude? Kuro pretended said annoyance had nothing to do with the fact he’d just draped all of his weight across Mahiru’s back and nearly floored them both. He hadn’t buckled so as far as Kuro was concerned he couldn’t bitch.

Really, Kuro’s laziness was doing wonders for Mahiru’s upper body strength.

Kuro then gave Mahiru a passing glance from the corner of his eye as he leaned over his shoulder but otherwise ignored his spluttering and kept his dead eyed stare on the students that seemed to know what was best for him. 

Not that they looked like they had much to say now he was staring them in the face, but still, nobody had ever had anything to say about their suitability until their recent promotion to the EAT class. 

Instructors, unlike Kuro, were very optimistic about the pair and had been downright thrilled with their progress in combat classes. So much so that they decided to put them into the EAT class on a trial basis to see how they did. 

To Kuro, it largely just meant more work he didn’t want to do with a few kind of ok perks, like being able to move out of the dorms if the promotion became permanent. But it also meant that unwanted meddling from outsiders was even more of a pain in the ass than it would have been before. 

Mahiru was already a handful without his former classmates helping him develop something as tedious to deal with as an inferiority complex. Especially when now it could affect their ability fight together and in turn their ability to, y’know, not get dead. 

Honestly, why were people suddenly taking issue with Mahiru becoming his meister anyway? It wasn't like anybody had been vying for the position before thanks to Kuro’s slovenly reputation and one class promotion shouldn’t have been that big of a deal. 

He had three other siblings in the EAT class and he didn’t see anyone giving their meisters shit. Not even Hugh’s who was a first year. Though he supposed that between a gigantic first year, a super violent self titled ‘Angel’, the son of death himself and an instructor employed by the school, Mahiru would be the easier target for their criticisms.

“Sleepy Ash.” One of the idiots had found their voices but Kuro truly did not care. “We were wondering if you’d hear us out about-”

“Kuro.” He interrupted bluntly, a little surprised himself at how annoyed he sounded. 

“S-sorry, Kuro. We were just telling Mahiru that it wasn’t fair to you how he-” 

“I heard. Don’t care.”

“But we have a classmate called Rina and she’d be a really good-”

“Said I don’t care.” He interrupted again. “Nobody gave a damn what I did before this guy came along so people starting now is just a pain.”

“But she’s much better than-”

“I said I don’t care. Stop bothering him.” He found himself glaring warningly to get them to shut up. He didn’t want anymore useless words floating around Mahiru’s head.

They’d already done enough by implying Mahiru lacked the ability to wield him when wielding ability wasn’t even on Kuro’s own ‘why this probably won’t work’ list. 

Like all of his siblings, Kuro was a two formed weapon and in such a short time, Mahiru had improved enough with both his spear and broom forms for an EAT class promotion.

Naturally, Kuro and some of his siblings had teased the shit out of Mahiru for being a natural with a cleaning implement of all things while he struggled more with the spear but that didn’t make their fast progress together something to be ignored. Instructors acknowledged it, enough to put them in live combat after just a few weeks together, but apparently that still wasn’t enough to please some people. 

If he was this ‘Rina’ person, he wouldn’t have been too happy knowing people were using him as an excuse to talk down to someone either.

Staring until the NOT class students started to look uncomfortable as they started to understand he had zero intention of hearing them out, he undraped himself from his meister and took hold of his arm to tug him away until he got the hint started walking on his own, seemingly baffled by the quick shut down of the convocation. It only lasted until they rounded the corner though, then Kuro felt a shoulder nudge his arm.

“Uh, Kuro?”

“What?”

“Thanks.”

Kuro turned his head to avoid Mahiru’s stare and huffed. If he and Mahiru didn't last as a pair it would be because of his slovenly quirks and Mahiru’s overly energetic attitude drove one of them (read: Mahiru) to murder. It would be a domestic issue over their clashing personalities affecting their wavelengths and making them unable to work and/or live together. Kuro refused to let it be because of the words of people that didn't matter making Mahiru doubt himself.

“..No problem.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Re-reading Soul Eater from start to finish in two days is not the best idea. It makes fics like this happen... It's the whole partner dynamic. I'm seriously weak to it. 
> 
> Anyway I hope you all enjoy, but please point out any bad spelling or grammar.


	2. To protect from bramble-death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They'd only just been fully admitted to the EAT class. Why were they already being given missions like this? Kuro calls bullshit.

The bastards going out of their way to target his meister had gotten old pretty fast.

Big, man-made and soulless, the sentient masses of thorns that had been attacking them for the better part of the day hadn’t once turned a genuine attack towards anyone that wasn’t Mahiru. Kuro's little brother, Hyde, his meister Licht and even Kuro himself were seen as little more than annoying extras while they relentlessly went for Kuro’s wielder and being so thoroughly ignored was honestly a little hurtful.

“Why are there so many?!” Mahiru demanded as they were forced from yet another hiding spot they’d tried to catch a breather in. Nobody had an answer for him though, too focussed on escaping back out into the street. They had been fighting for hours and had whittled down the enemy numbers a little but it didn’t slow how fast the group always managed to track them down whenever they paused to rest.

“At least now you finally understand the burden of popularity…”

“Not the time, Kuro!”

They had gone into the mission knowing those with anti-demon and similar type wavelengths, rare as they were, were seemingly being identified and targeted by something in the region. It was why Mikuni, one of their instructors, had come to specifically ask Mahiru and Kuro take the mission with the Licht/Hyde pair as backup. They were meant to see if they could confirm the rumour and lure out possible culprits. But there was a difference between the words ‘seemingly being targeted’ and a group of at least three dozen towering vine monsters baying for Mahiru’s blood the second they set foot in the small town the rumours had originated from.

An annoyingly big difference.

They didn’t even seem to want to capture Mahiru like Mikuni have vaguely alluded to. From what Kuro could judge from the attacks and numerous near misses so far, they just wanted him dead and it was taking everything the four of them had to stop them from getting what they wanted.

“Angel, we need to get to higher ground, we’re getting surrounded down here!” Hyde yelled to Licht who had just looked more pissed off than tired or concerned.

“Working on it, bastard!”

Kuro suppressed a sigh, knowing they should have stayed home. He’d even said as much before they’d left the DWMA and not entirely because he’d wanted to be lazy. He just always got a bad feeling from tasks assigned by Mikuni.

Kuro could understand why Mikuni had requested Mahiru specifically though, as well as why people like him were being targeted. 

They were largely forced to rely on hit and run tactics due to enemy numbers and endurance, but every attack and counter he and Mahiru had successfully landed had caused serious harm. They weren’t inflicting notably more damage than the super offensive Licht and Hyde combo, but Licht could decimate an entire limb with a kick from his Hyde booted leg and the afflicted monster would barely flinch with the damaged area instantly starting to regenerate. 

When Mahiru attacked, pressing his anti-demon wavelength through Kuro’s curved blade with each movement, the monsters outright screeched in pain and the branched limbs cut off, when they could get a good enough swing in, didn’t grow back.

To Kuro, Mahiru’s wavelength always felt like a warm cloth on cold skin. It was an admittedly pleasant sensation and one of the few things Kuro honestly liked about being swung around by his partner. Judging by the monsters agonised reactions, to them it felt more like an acid coated chainsaw.

It was just very hard to get those very effective hits in without risking being caught and overrun.

Even with the sheer number and size of the enemies however, Kuro thought they were handling the situation well. At least in the sense that they’d managed to hold out for a good few hours and Mahiru had yet to be gutted anyway. 

Unfortunately they were far from unscathed for their efforts though and by the time they eventually had the enemies whittled down from almost twenty to exactly two, which took most of the afternoon, the blood of the two exhausted meisters decorated far too much floor space for their weapons comfort. The consequence of which became clear when Mahiru showed signs of losing balance right after repelling an attack.

“Mahiru?” Kuro was quick to ask, annoyed when they just… stopped. He was all for standing still and catching his breath but he was a lot more for Mahiru not leaving himself open to attacks by death brambles when they were so close to being done with this whole mess.

“Yeah… Sorry Kuro, just… dizzy.”

“Dizzy? What-” Kuro felt them list to the side, an odd sensation when he currently had no stomach to drop at the feeling. “Hyde, Angel guy, cover us!”

“Eh?" Hyde called though Licht was already on the move. "Ah, Mahiru!”

Kuro had felt rather done with the mission before it had even started. Mikuni had made things sound far too simple during the briefing and the man had a well known habit of being a bit too selective of what information he shared. That had instantly made Kuro want out but he’d had to come along because Mahiru accepted (‘but what if someone gets attacked, Kuro?’) without question. But his patience with the whole mess well and truly reached its limit when he had to revert out of weapon form to catch Mahiru before he could pitch them both over the edge of the roof they’d eventually ended up fighting on. 

He grabbed a handful of Mahiru’s shirt, sticky with blood, and yanked him back from the ledge before gravity could drag him to the ground several stories below. The close call alone was enough to up Kuro’s blood pressure but his meister not righting himself immediately after was what truly set off warning bells. 

A quick once over showed Kuro that Mahiru was abnormally pale and wearing a lot more red on his clothes than he should have been from the wounds he’d received.

Licht and Mahiru were light and fast on their feet and they had actually avoided any serious injury so far, so it made no sense for such small, shallow wounds, no matter how numerous, to have been bleeding as much as they were. They definitely shouldn’t have bled enough for Mahiru to be on the verge of passing out, even with the long fight and flat out exhaustion also being factors. 

“Thanks, but I’m ok. Its clearing.” Mahiru assured after a few seconds, standing under his own power and slowly stepping out of Kuro’s hold. The weapon looked skeptical but Mahiru wasn’t swaying and his eyes were mostly clear. “Come on, change back. Licht needs help.”

“You really don’t look too good.” Kuro frowned, believing Mahiru was no longer in fighting condition. 

“Doesn’t matter. C’mon Kuro. They can fight those things but we need to deal the finishing blows if we want to finish this before sundown.” He held out his hand expectantly and Kuro scowled at the slight tremor he saw in the fingertips. He knew Mahiru was right though and that really just made him dislike the situation even more. Reluctantly, he let his body slip into liquid shadow that reformed into a pitch black spear in Mahiru’s grip.

“Fine… but don’t swoon again.” Mahiru’s grip on him seemed to twitch.

“Please don’t call it swooning.”

Mahiru held up well once he rejoined the fray, even getting back up to fight after getting rather brutally slammed into the roof’s satellite dish but after taking out another monster and leaving the last one half shredded, his less than stellar condition caught up to him and left him open to attack when he finally stumbled.

Having pretty much been waiting for it, Kuro was out of weapon form and blocking a vined fist with bladed arms before Mahiru could even fully buckle, gritting his teeth from the strain as he twisted his body and sent the monster stumbling to the side from the redirected force.

“Mahiru?” He glanced behind him to see his meister as motionless and unresponsive as he’d feared. “Tsk, I said DON’T swoon again...”

Getting pissed off and just wanting to go home, Kuro grabbed Mahiru and hauled ass away from the beast as it regained its balance and came at them again. He would have preferred to just put him down somewhere out of the way and help the other two try to finish things but even with only one half dead monster left, Mahiru was still it’s priority target. So Kuro had to keep a tight hold of his meister and trust that his brother and Licht would step up once more as he moved to escape to the neighbouring rooftop, his arms still tingling numbly from the shock they’d absorbed.

The monster tried to follow but failed as Licht and Hyde flawlessly covered their retreat, allowing Kuro to get Mahiru out of attack range and to temporary safety. The pair were noisy and annoying but they were great back up.

Unfortunately, with Mahiru out of the fight and Kuro unable to leave him unguarded, Licht and Hyde had to finish things themselves.

It ended up being the most troublesome part of the entire battle.

Without Mahiru’s wavelength advantage, taking down the last monster was every bit as difficult as they’d been dreading. The bastard just wouldn’t stay down, nor would it stop trying to regrow whatever got destroyed. Eventually even Licht started showing signs of having more blood out of his body than in and on top of it all, the monster still only had eyes for Mahiru. It was a constant game of keep away and Kuro had to stay on the move while holding Mahiru close if he didn’t want to become a solo weapon again in the worst way possible. 

Twenty minutes later, a long ass time to be fighting just one opponent in a small area, the beast finally went down and stayed that way, scattered into a mess of withered branches that twitched but didn’t regrow or try to reform.

Kuro joined the other two in slumping with relief at the fight finally being over, tired, sore and gasping for breath as he put Mahiru down beside him. He sincerely hoped Mahiru had enjoyed his little stint of popularity because after this Kuro was never going to let him have any sort of fanbase, enemy or friendly, ever again.

Also, the next time Mikuni came their way with a jobs board notice in hand, they were running the opposite fucking direction. He voiced that particular thought aloud and got full agreement from the other two.

Not too long after the battle’s end as they were starting to regain their breath, the seemingly empty town went from deathly silent to a flood of activity as the townspeople emerged from hiding. And Kuro was relieved when, instead of being bitched at for mass property damage as had happened in the past, they were directed straight to the towns thankfully undamaged medical centre by grateful citizens. He might have accidentally scared off a few people that offered to carry Mahiru when they saw the state of him, but Kuro appreciated the directions given and accepted just enough help to get Mahiru on his back for easier carrying.

Even with the fight over and the townspeople happily burning the thorn beast’s remains for them, Kuro didn’t dare loosen his grip on Mahiru until they were in the clinic and it was time to put him on the doctor’s examination table. By that point, large portions of his favourite blue coat were as red as his eyes and he found himself taking it off so he wouldn’t have to look at it until Mahiru was in better shape.

Despite the stupid amount of blood everywhere though, it actually turned out that nobody was seriously hurt. Mahiru’s left leg needed a few stitches as did an injury on Licht’s arm but the cause of all the bleeding ended up being the clear sap the monster’s vines oozed. A substance they were all, except Hyde, quite liberally splattered with.

Kuro felt himself slump in his seat next to Mahiru’s bed as the doctor told them about the sap’s strong anti-coagulant properties that actively encouraged wounds to bleed. It was easily dealt with and the meisters had already had their bleeding stopped when their wounds were cleaned, they just needed rest.

It explained the sheer amount of red that had been leaking out of the meisters but the length of the battle, that clocked a little over 5 hours in the end, and the sheer amount of injuries sustained meant that they’d lost a fair bit of blood, particularly Mahiru. This meant Kuro’s desire to just go home and sleep was firmly denied as they were told they had to stay in the town for an extra two days while Mahiru and Licht rested until the doctor cleared them as safe to travel home.

Waiting for Mahiru to wake up after his initial treatment and getting cleaned up, Kuro lazed around the small room Mahiru had been given and let his thoughts drift from wishing he had a game to play to pointedly not thinking about how many times Mahiru had almost died today. It was too worrying a realisation to have when he was this tired. Plus for all his thoughts that he and Mahiru were likely a temporary thing, the idea of him not being around anymore unsettled Kuro more than he’d like to admit.

Drifting thoughts were fine but thoughts of being Mahiru-less just weren’t ones Kuro wanted to have. He had enough trouble admitting to himself that it wasn’t just the food that made him not mind living with his meister anymore. He didn’t need any more glaring reminders of his dwindling chances of ever being able to walk away from their partnership without lasting regret.

He gave the unconscious boy a sour look, taking a moment to thoroughly blame him for pretty much everything with his eyes before he broke off the stare with a yawn.

“Ah no energy…”

Far too tired and far too unable to deal, Kuro stood and gently pushed Mahiru’s limp body aside, mulishly glaring all the while, until there was space on the bed to lay beside him and steal half of his pillow. He then got comfy on top of the blankets and relaxed with a deep sigh.

“Wake me when you’re done being unconscious and troublesome.” He grumbled before settling in for a well deserved nap, accepting Mahiru’s sleepy huff as a genuine response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm bad at action, but its Soul Eater. I had to have a chapter with some sort of fight in it, even a vaguely described one... I tried.
> 
> Also yes, anti-demon wavelength Mahiru is a thing. Because his natural '100% done with all of you weirdos' state bled far too naturally into the '100% done with your evil bullshit' wavelength type.


	3. To protect from unwanted challengers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuro is starting to learn to accept things, Mahiru is a lot better at it than he is but at least Kuro can stop people from trying to duel him while he's hurt.

Kuro was slowly starting to come around to the fact he and Mahiru were not, in fact, a temporary arrangement.

Hyde and Hugh screaming ‘Happy three month anniversary!’ at him earlier that morning had kicked the process into high gear but it was something he’d had semi-acknowledged for a while now. 

It had been three whole months since their partnership began, they were fully fledged EAT class students now and they even rented a small but cosy apartment together near the school. His siblings, the DWMA admitted ones, all liked Mahiru as well and if managing to please that group of weirdos, along with their ability to work together, didn’t set them up for a long term partnership, he didn’t know what did. 

There was no mass character growth to bring him to this point. Mahiru still nagged, still nitpicked, was still an early riser, still made a huge fuss over nothing and basically still had all the same flaws he’d had from the start that upset Kuro’s calm, peace-loving soul. But someone else pointing out just how much time had already passed had made him realise that he and Mahiru had settled into a comfortable rhythm of sorts. Kind of. 

The realisation and end to his drawn out denial could be at least partially blamed on the fact Mahiru had made a really good chicken curry the night before, making Kuro a bit more Mahiru-biased than usual. But the admission had happened now, even if only in his own head, and he couldn’t really go back on it. 

Mahiru was his partner and, even in his darker moods, he very much wanted it to stay that way.

He’d work on being able to say it out loud another day, but he had to admit that things right now were… well, they were pretty ok.

Killing time in the school library by sprawling out on a cushy bench, Kuro let his new found acceptance of his life and Mahiru’s place in it put him in an unusually light mood. Not enough to spur him into anything drastic like moving, but enough to put him in a very relaxed state. Nobody would look for him here until all other options were exhausted, there were no classes for him now until after lunch and the sunlight caught the bench just so, bathing him in warmth.

Things were as perfect as they could be without him being curled up in his own bed at home.

“So he’s charging around looking for duels again? What for?”

Not even the sound of female voices approaching the Library’s grand doors made him shift though he did feel a tiny tick of annoyance when the voices got louder and two chatting girls entered. Silence was preferred, but he’d grown up around seven other siblings. He could easily relax and ignore a pair of students. He was just so comfy… He was honestly debating taking the bench back home with him.

“No idea, maybe he’s still mad about being defeated by that Tetsu kid the other day? You know what he’s like, he takes more pride in his win/loss record against other meisters than he does his exam scores or soul count.”

“Well it is that kind of school. Even if it’s not officially marked, winning a lot of fights counts for something.” There was a sigh. “I don’t mind that we’re allowed to beat the crap out of each other but I really wish duels couldn’t happen in the halls.”

“I know, right? Some of the heavy hitters really make such a mess of the place to.” 

Rolling over to face the window, Kuro closed his eyes and let everything just drift. He felt eyes on him for a moment, no doubt jealous that he’d taken the best bench, but it soon passed and he heard chairs lightly scrape across the carpet as the girls got settled and continued their talk.

“So anyway, who is he after this time? Even he isn’t suicidal enough to go after Licht again, right? Maybe it’s Sakuya?”

“Who?”

“You know, the dagger meister with green hair.”

“Oh! Ryusei’s partner. No, it wouldn’t be him.”

“How come? He’s pretty strong right?”

“He is, but he isn’t here. He and Ryusei got sent to Berlin yesterday on a mission. They won’t be back until tomorrow.” 

Kuro huffed slightly at the mention of Mahiru’s green haired friend. The guy was… ok. But damn he was tiring to be around. So tiring in fact, just thinking about him made Kuro contemplate a pre-lunch nap.

“Oh yeah, you’re right. Who is he after then? He can hardly rampage around the school screaming ‘fight me’. He’ll get in trouble.”

“I think he said that Mahiru guy.”

No. No pre-lunch nap for Kuro today. God damnit, Mahiru...

“But isn’t he injured?”

“Yeah, he got pretty banged up in a mission. I heard Hyde saying something about thorn giants.”

“So he’s ran off to challenge an injured person? That’s not like him. Doing something like that is pretty low.”

Mahiru and Licht were still a little anaemic after last weeks mission and today was Mahiru’s second day back in school. The stitches in his leg came out in a week or so but he still had a slight limp along with about 50 different bruises and scrapes. So yes, wanting to fight him like that was low. Low enough that Kuro was debating whether this meant he had to do something or not. Being challenged to a duel didn’t mean Mahiru had to accept and even if he did, that didn’t mean Kuro was magically involved because plenty of duels were meister vs meister. But he was hurt and if he got bullheaded enough to accept a solo duel that could get him more hurt…

No, Mahiru could handle himself. Either way he’d be fine and Kuro could stay right where he was.

“I know right? Especially with how he issues challenges by throwing punches…”

Mahiru was fast, he could dodge and tell the guy to fuck off. Everything was fine. Even if he was limping and moving a lot slower than usual... Kuro scowled at the scenery outside the window.

“He’s not usually the type to do something like that but he gets kinda stubborn when those weapon siblings are involved. He’s still sore about when Hyde turned him down for Licht last year. The gigantic kid beating him without using Hugh didn’t really help.”

“So you think he’s going after Mahiru because of a grudge?”

So damn troublesome...

“Where?” Both girls jumped at the sound of Kuro’s voice, one even screaming a little. The formerly relaxed, almost snoozing weapon was now sat up and looking rumpled and irritable. Stupid Mahiru, even from the other side of the building he could disturb Kuro’s naps.

“K-Kuro?”

Mahiru could make his own decisions, but it would be Kuro the nurse tore into if Mahiru tore his stitches. It’d also be Kuro that had to carry the idiot home and do most of the evening’s chores as Mahiru got put back on ‘no weight bearing with the bad leg’ rules. 

“That dueling guy. Where is he?” He asked again when they just stared at him.

“Um, I think he was heading to the east wing classrooms. A meister only lecture finished there about 15 minutes ago.”

He was heading for Mahiru's class then. Without a word Kuro stood and headed for the exit, back hunched and shoulders slumped as he slipped out into the near deserted hallway to head for Mahiru’s classroom. He wasn’t going to run or rush but he did use multiple shortcuts he had found during his three year stint at the school. He also grumbled about his inability to leave anything involving Mahiru well enough alone.

Within about six minutes, because even with shortcuts this school’s layout was ridiculous, Kuro was walking down the east wing’s main corridor and already he was pretty sure he had his target in sight. Huge, hairless and rippling with more muscle than any teenager had right to have, Kuro actually recognised the student walking ahead of him. He was a NOT class student with a reputation for challenging people to duels, being polite to a fault in spoken convocation and only relying on his weapon partner if he absolutely had to. He fit the person described in the girls convocation perfectly and considering there were no classes in session here now, he was walking towards Mahiru’s class with a bit too much purpose in his steps for a casual stroll.

“Oi, Giant-Guy, stop a sec.” He called out, unwilling to up his pace to catch up with such long ass strides.

“Weapon-Kuro.” He greeted politely over his shoulder but made no move to stop, he looked tense and rather unhappy to see the weapon. “My apologies, but I’m on my way to issue a challenge. Don’t get in my way.”

“Can I talk you out of doing it?” He asked, doubting he’d get a yes but very hopeful for one regardless.

“Unfortunately, no.” He’d already turned around and was getting way too close to the classroom door.

“Damnit.” Realising actual physical effort would be involved, Kuro swallowed a groan and got moving.

Running at the guy, Kuro grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked while kicking him in the back of the knee. The giant's balance gone, he then swung him around and sent him stumbling head first into a wall. He did feel a little bad about it, but the guy had been getting way too close to the classroom. He was just glad the halls were empty so nobody could question his actions.

“Whats going on out there?” A voice asked from the nearby classroom. It was Mahiru.

“Sorry. I panicked.” Kuro told the dazed student quietly, eyeing the classroom door. “But I can’t let you challenge him alone while he’s hurt. You can… I guess you can challenge us both if you want.” He said reluctantly, knowing he could lessen any damage if he was watching Mahiru’s back. “But go get your partner so it’s an armed duel or something…” 

“But I challenge meisters, Weapon-Kuro…”

“Not today you don’t. I’m going to go see Mahiru, if you want to duel us, wait here. If not, get lost and come back when he’s better.” Staring down the floored giant until he got a bemused and somewhat startled nod, that had nothing (everything) to do with Kuro's fingers being blades and very close to the guys face, he quickly made for the classroom before Mahiru could come and investigate. He felt a little bad but the more he thought about it, the more he didn’t want someone that huge taking Mahiru on one on one. Not while Mahiru’s leg injury so heavily impaired his usual level of agility.

He gave one more pointed look to the large but understanding (and possibly concussed) student whose name he couldn’t for the life of him recall before he entered the classroom and closed the door behind him once he spotted his meister.

Mahiru was alone and sat a few rows up, slumped over his desk and looking rather sleepy and Kuro-like. Kuro wasn’t sure if he should feel proud or offended but it was pretty clear no fights had broken out in or near this particular classroom. 

Good, he’d floored the right student then. That lessened the guilt a bit.

“Oh it was you, Kuro.” Mahiru greeted with a smile when he saw him walking over before straightening into a less Kuro-eske position so he could stretch. “Didn’t expect to see you until lunch.”

“Didn’t plan to be found ‘til lunch.” Kuro admitted, hopping up the desks until he reached the row Mahiru was on to drop into the space beside him and immediately finding it a poor substitute for his library bench. He didn’t bother questioning why Mahiru was here alone, combat classes were now in session and he and Mahiru were excused until his stitches were out. Well, Mahiru was. Kuro was just skipping.

“So what’s the occasion? You don’t normally meet me at my classes.”

“Our three month anniversary, according to my brothers…” Kuro shrugged, deciding not to mention the challenger outside just yet. He’d made his point. The duel either happened with him in it or it didn’t happen at all. If tall, bald and muscular still wanted a fight, he could wait. 

“Why would they say that today though? It was yesterday, wasn’t it?” Mahiru asked, prompting Kuro to eye him in mild surprise.

“You were keeping track of the dates?” His brothers joking about it was one thing, but for Mahiru to have actually been counting the days was… it was something else.

“Well yeah, I really like being your partner.” The meister said with an easy shrug, clearly lightyears ahead of Kuro in terms of emotional maturity and self acceptance. “I never kept track with the intent to celebrate stuff, not at first. I just… idly thought about it now and then.” Mahiru poked at the furrow in Kuro’s brow, prompting him to lean back with a frown. “Hey, what’s with the face? It’s not that strange is it?”

“...You just said ‘not at first’. It was celebrated?” 

“You were there, you idiot. It was last night.” Mahiru snorted and then Kuro realised he was right. The really good curry.

“We had a celebration dinner and you didn’t tell me it was happening.” He realised, somewhat offended by the fact. His meister had stealth celebrated a bullshit anniversary without saying a word about it. How could he appreciate their time together with a good meal if he didn't know said time together was being appreciated?

“Of course I didn’t, you’re a serial moment killer and would have said something stupid and insulting on reflex when I wanted you to just enjoy the food.” Mahiru deadpanned and dropped forward, his head hitting the desk with a dull thunk. He looked tired lately, likely a lingering effect of the anemia. “I know the whole anniversary thing is pretty dumb, but Hyde was going on about them last week and how he got Licht an egg or something stupid like that and it got me thinking.” There was a motion Kuro could only assume was a shrug. “I know three months isn’t really a proper benchmark for, well, anything. But then Sakuya got in on it and was being seriously annoying so it stuck with me. Then I remembered you saying you hadn’t had decent chicken curry in literally years and the dates lined up so I thought that it might be sorta nice to just… make you something you wanted.” He trailed off like he wanted to say more but stopped himself, unaware of his weapons stunned state.

Kuro could recall he had said something like that, but it had been an offhand comment well over two weeks ago and he didn’t even think Mahiru had been listening, busy unpacking boxes as they moved into their apartment. Clearly he had though and he’d also gone out of his way to make it as a celebration dinner for a timestamp of their partnership.

It was dumb, stupidly cheesy and many other things, but mainly it was so very Mahiru that it hurt. And then here was Kuro, only just able to admit in his own head that he even wanted the other guy to stick around…

But most importantly, Mahiru had said he liked being his meister. The light feeling he’d had back in the library before he’d been disturbed was starting to return.

Hunching his shoulders, Kuro focussed his stare somewhere off to the side and shoved his hands deep into his pockets. His meister was just… he didn’t even have words at this point. He was an idiot for getting ideas from Hyde’s pranks and letting Sakuya egg him on but at the same time the sentiment behind the gesture was so painfully sincere that whatever influenced it didn't matter.

“Ah… I really don’t know how to handle you.” He admitted quietly. Almost quietly enough to not be heard. 

“What was that?” Mahiru asked and Kuro caught an unintentional glimpse of his pink cheeks as he raised his head. It was good to know this was embarrassing for all involved, even if Mahiru sounded calm, but poor Kuro had reached his limit. 

He retreated from the convocation.

“I said I think there’s a guy that wants to duel us outside.”

“That isn’t what you said at a-wait, seriously? Is that what the noise was earlier?”

He didn’t know whether to thank his brother or punch him, Sakuya as well, but Mahiru… The truth behind one little gesture should not have made him this happy. But it had, so he quickly directed Mahiru’s attention to the duel so he wouldn’t have to think too deeply about any of it. He’d already reached his weekly quota of self realisation.

The warm, bubbly feeling said happiness gave him however, he let that linger.

Mahiru was right though. He really was a serial moment killer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit more of a subtle instance of helping in the sense that Mahiru is unaware, but that's why I said 'helping' in the story summary and not 'dramatically rescued'. Also, I watched Sleepy Life of Servamp 2. Hyde and that stupid egg is 99% responsible for this chapter and is one of the first ones I started to write for this fic... 
> 
> Also thank you for the comments so far, I've really appreciated them. :)


	4. To protect from reduced survival instincts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuro is forced to babysit Mahiru in undesirable circumstances and his soul suffers as a result. 
> 
> Mahiru gets to punch a man and pet a cat. He suffers considerably less.

Despite Mahiru’s progress with Kuro’s spear form, it was actually his quick adaption and skill with the broom that had secured them their initial spot in the EAT class.

In combat, Kuro had never really seen many practical applications for the form unless the goal was to constantly smack something without damaging it (like an annoying younger brother) so he’d honestly used it more to brush crumbs off his lap than anything combat related.

But then Mahiru had come along and he’d brought his level 7 housewife stats along with him, weaponizing the broom and turning it into a cleaning implement of pure blunt force destruction and they’d only made it worse (better?) when they figured out how throw Mahiru’s anti-demon wavelength into the mix.

Admittedly, it worked well for them and made them a solid combination in a fight even without the spear. So Kuro was rather surprised when over dinner one night Mahiru had taken it even further by suggesting Kuro might be able to fly.

They’d only been a pair for a little while at that point and Mahiru wasn’t the first to make the witch’s broom joke or even the twentieth. But he was the first to drag Kuro to the angry midget known to most as Death’s second son, Misono, and ask the guy to take a look at Kuro’s soul and tell them what he saw. Soul perception was something a handful of students had but according to Mahiru, his younger brother’s meister was the more trustworthy source who wouldn’t make the stare session weird.

Mahiru had lied. It had still been weird.

It was nice seeing Lily outside of class though.

It hadn’t taken long, but they’d come out of the little meeting with Mahiru proving he could only befriend socially abnormal meisters and Kuro getting confirmation that the two protrusions decorating the top of his soul’s rounded shape were actually small but definite winged markers of a Grigori.

According to Misono, it actually looked more like a cat with stretched out ears than anything angelic or feathery but wings were wings, regardless of shape. So Kuro was confirmed as one of the few in the world to have a Grigori soul and as a result, was theoretically capable of flight in his weapon forms.

Mahiru had been thrilled at the news, his suspicions confirmed, while Kuro was admittedly less so. But it didn’t change the fact that at the ass crack of dawn the next day he was quite literally dragged out of bed by his ankles for some pre-class flight training.

It hadn’t been a fast process by any means, not with Kuro’s vocal reluctance and their general lack of knowledge on the subject, but a destroyed wall and a day long infirmary visit had them learning that, at the very least, they should not attempt it with the spear. So they took the lesson (and a few physical scars) to heart and focused solely on Kuro as a broom.

It took four full days until they had their first success but Mahiru’s smile had lit up his entire face when they succeeded in making the black, scraggly mass that was his broom’s bristles split, contort and flare into a set of large, claw like wings. They were pitch black and more scary in appearance than pretty, particularly if the screaming child watching from a distance had been anything to go by, but like Misono had said; wings were wings.

Personally, Kuro hadn’t particularly cared about his super rare soul type and hadn’t understood the fuss others, particularly his siblings, made about it once word got out. But the idea of being able to fly (theoretically both faster and less effort than walking) had peaked his interest enough that he hadn’t even said anything sarcastic to shit on Mahiru’s near giddy enthusiasm at their first bit of real progress.

Still, actually getting airborne and staying that way had been a trial Kuro never wanted to repeat.

The need to constantly adjust their wavelengths had been exhausting for Mahiru, who was the controlling force to Kuro’s admittedly abundant raw power, and they’d lost control and ended up crashing if there was so much as a blip in their concentration.

It made for a lot more near death experiences for Mahiru than Kuro was comfortable with and it didn’t really help that their practices had to be put on hold as soon as they felt like they were actually getting somewhere because the stupid thorn golem mission with Licht and Hyde popped up.

Mahiru had clearly been frustrated by the fact the injuries he sustained on the mission only delayed things further as well, though Kuro was not so secretly happy for the slack off time, but as soon as he’d had recovered enough the flight sessions continued in full swing.

It was a slow start finding their rhythm again but they managed and between weeks of almost daily practises and Mahiru’s near insane lack of self preservation when he had his mind set to something, their high speed crashes transformed into rough, but controlled landings and stutters in their focus became slight jitters instead of heart stopping plummets.

It was a pretty solid achievement that even Kuro felt a stab of pride towards, especially since learning to fly with Mahiru had honestly been the most effort he’d ever put into anything in the history of ever. But since he was still working on the whole voicing positive emotions thing, he never actually said it out loud.

Out loud he generally just complained about their new ability, which tended to get him called ungrateful among other things, but it wasn’t just out of apathy of laziness. Reason being that, as soon as word got out that there was a flight capable pair in the DWMA, the amount of tasks they were assigned on top of their usual soul hunts practically doubled.

Errands, fetch quests, search and rescue… they suddenly became everyone’s first pick for all of them and it was so exhausting it almost made Kuro second guess the decision to learn how to fly in the first place. And it didn’t help that Mahiru was a workaholic that said yes to all the most annoying ones, like the request they were doing right now.

\----

Kuro liked flying to and from school.

Kuro didn’t like being sent on late night aerial searches that had them flying above the city past 11pm in the pouring rain, all for the sake of finding a petty criminal.

Completely drenched even with Kuro’s coat for extra protection, Mahiru was almost in as sour a mood as his weapon on this one and not even the fur lined hood prevented him from constantly having to wipe water from his eyes.

“How are we meant to find anyone like this?” He groused.

They had been put on the lookout for a nighttime vandal that had been using the cover of darkness to go around Death City wrecking store-fronts and spray painting signs and windows. It really wasn’t much of an weapon/meister task but the vandal had somehow managed to escape all local law enforcement sent after him and nobody knew how because the officers themselves simply couldn’t recall. They were just always found the following morning; dazed, confused and wandering the city. They were generally unharmed but their weapons and handcuffs were always missing and they had no real memory of what they’d been doing the night before.

“I can barely see past the rooftops…” Mahiru grumbled and even though Kuro couldn’t feel touch well in weapon form, he was aware of Mahiru leaning over him, torso pressing against his handle as he squinted at the city below. “How are we meant to spot just one guy? I know he apparently has a thing for wearing orange, but still...”

“Let’s just call it and head home.” Nothing sounded better than a hot bath, reheated leftovers and then bed.

“But we’ve only been looking for a few hours.” Mahiru sighed, clearly torn between the idea of being comfy and dry and the dissatisfying thought of returning empty handed. “If we can catch the guy tonight, we won’t have to come back tomorrow and we can finally have a break.”

“But tomorrow will have better weather.”

That was one thing Kuro liked about the city being in the state of Nevada. It had very little rain. Tonight was actually one of the heavier showers he’d seen since he started to live here, so it was just their luck that they were stuck outside in it.

“Lets just give it another hour. It’s wet but it isn’t cold and I’m already soaked. If we’re calling it quits early we at least want to be able to tell the staff at the jobs office that we did a full circuit of the city.”  

“No we don’t.”

“Okay, you don’t. _I do_. Lets just stick with it a little longer, ok?”

“...”

“Is it bad that you’re a broom right now and I still know exactly what face you’re pulling?”

“Probably.”

And so, Mahiru’s slave driver tendencies had them searching for another hour, Kuro’s wings gathering as much water as they flicked off with each heavy flap. As Kuro expected, they found nothing and started to argue when Kuro delivered a well-founded though admittedly snippy ‘I told you so’. But Mahiru did eventually concede that the night was pretty much a bust and agreed they could finally head home.

Kuro liked flying home.

It was just a one bedroom apartment above a quiet cafe but, despite picking it out back when Kuro was still unconvinced he and Mahiru were capable of lasting long term, it was easily his favourite place in the city. It was small but cosy and the thought of finally returning had him silently nudging Mahiru through their combined wavelengths to go a bit faster.

“Oh now you’re enthusiastic…” Mahiru huffed out a laugh at the rare show of eagerness, but instead of actually going faster, they came to a stop.

“Mahiru?”

“One sec, think I just saw something.”

Kuro couldn’t have held back a groan if he tried, his handle slumping into a slight curve to further show his unhappiness. He finally got Mahiru to agree to go home and he goes and spots something. Typical. Hopefully he was just seeing things.

“Hey, I think that’s our guy.”

Or not...

“You sure you aren’t seeing wrong?” He tried, refusing to actually look himself. “It is dark.”

“He’s stood under a street lamp, wearing neon orange pants and is trying to spray paint what looks like a dick on the wall of a shoe shop...”

“A dedicated artist maybe?”

“Kuro…”

“Ugh…But I dun wanna.” He sighed and Mahiru reached back to pet the bristly base of his wings.

“Yeah yeah, I know. It’s a pain, will make you sore later and so troublesome you could die, right? We still have to catch him.”

“Don’t steal-”

“Your lines?” Mahiru interrupted because he was rude as fuck and Kuro still didn’t know why he put up with this shit as often as he did. “If it motivates you any better, you can have my share of the ice cream when we get back.”

Food bribes might have been part of it.

“...Really?”

“Doubt I’ll want it this late so, if you don’t drag your feet doing this, yeah.”

“Hmm.” Aware that was probably the best he was going to get out of this, Kuro thought it over for a second before falling into a resigned silence over just how easy he had become. Mahiru knew to take it as consent however and leaned forward as Kuro’s wings gave a harsh flap that sent them down towards the Death City streets.

They’d be chosen for this with the idea in mind that from above, they’d spot the criminal before he saw them, taking him by surprise and capturing him before he could do whatever it was he had been doing to the DC law enforcement.

It was a solid idea, but it didn’t really account for the possibility of incredibly well hidden proximity traps.

There was a tug of wire against Mahiru’s leg as they neared ground level, a hiss of a cannister and then half the street was suddenly filled with a thick grey mist.

Startled, all Kuro heard was a choked gasp from Mahiru and the next thing he knew he was skidding across the rain slicked cobblestones, thrown far away by his meister’s own two hands.

“Mahiru?!” He was back in human form before he’d even stopped rolling, the weird mist already dissipating into nothingness from the rain. Mahiru was just stood there though, neither reacting to Kuro’s voice or the sudden close proximity of the criminal who, surrounded by dropped cans of spray paint, clutched a cracked gas masked to his face as blood freely gushed from what Kuro guessed was his nose.

In the scant seconds it had taken for the trap to trigger, Mahiru had apparently processed the threat, thrown Kuro out of it’s range and got a solid hit on the vandal. Now though, whatever he’d breathed in had taken effect and he was eerily motionless.

“Mahiru?” Kuro called as he scrambled to his feet.

“They sent a kid after me?!” The vandal sounded outraged for someone who had just stopped their pursuer in his tracks, peeking through bloody fingers to see who had smacked him one as the broken mask fell to the floor. “Wait, what are you, 12!? Damnit! This is just insulting!” He stumbled back, one hand holding his nose while the other was used to start picking up his discarded paint cans.

“What did you do to him?” Kuro demanded, now at Mahiru’s side to find him looking dazed and confused, staring at his hands and wiggling his fingers like he’d never seen them before. When he looked at Kuro, he stared and slowly blinked, not a trace of his normal alertness to be found in his gaze and his body even slowly started to tilt sideways until Kuro had to grab his shoulder to keep him upright.

“...Kuro?”

His state was eerily similar to how the officers sent after this guy had been found and Kuro felt his lip curling in disdain. Still, at least they knew how the guy kept getting away now. He still hadn’t answered Kuro’s question though.

“Oi.” He called, the hand not touching Mahiru becoming a long pole with a jaggedly curved blade and the vandal looked over in confusion at the sound of it scraping across the floor. “I said, what did you do to him?”

“You’re coherent?” The vandal asked, his tone disbelieving as he slowly straightened. “But the trap went off on both of you… didn’t it?”

Kuro watched as the twiggy man’s bewilderment slowly became replaced by fear as the events leading up to Mahiru decking him replayed in his mind. Kuro could have used the time to attack him, but Mahiru had latched onto his shirt, quietly asking why it was wet.

“You.. you didn’t breath it in?”

“Nope.” Kuro took a pointed step forward, pulling Mahiru along as well but found himself muttering a curse when the now pale faced vandal realised the trouble he was in, ditched his paint cans and bolted.

Unable to, in good conscience, leave Mahiru to give chase, Kuro could do little more than scowl down the darkened alley the man had fled through and decided that an extra share of ice cream tonight wouldn’t even come close to making up for how this evening was going.

“Kuro…” Mahiru tugged on his shirt that was already drenched and sticking to his skin. “Why are we outside?”

How was he meant to deal with this?

\------

“Hey, Kuro. What are your parents like?”

An hour had passed and after the criminals initial escape, Kuro had tried dragging Mahiru back to the DWMA to get checked out and hopefully given something to bring him back to his senses. Unfortunately for no reason what so ever, Mahiru had taken great offense to this plan and fought Kuro every time he realised they were heading for the school, wiggling and twisting out of his grip in such a way that Kuro had been forced to chase him down three times already.

Whatever Mahiru had breathed in hadn’t drugged him in a typical sense. His motor functions were intact, he wasn’t hallucinating and he had no problem holding a lucid convocation. But his short term memory was all over the place, his attention span practically non-existent and outside of Kuro or whatever caught his eye he had absolutely no awareness of his surroundings. It all combined to quickly rule out flying and so Kuro was stuck walking through the rain soaked city while Mahiru rambled and tried to wander off in equal measure.

“Kuro. Your parents. Tell me?”

Realizing he hadn’t answered, Kuro gave him an exasperated look.

“Does it matter? You’ve already met a handful of my brothers.”

“I have.” Mahiru nodded like Kuro had imparted great wisdom. The talking was tiresome, but it kept Mahiru in one place he supposed. “You have lots of them. And you’re all weird.”

“Says you.” He scoffed.

“Says me.” The implied insult soaring over his head, Mahiru was once again more interested in how he could wiggle his fingers. “Are your parents weird to?”

Kuro tugged Mahiru aside so he wouldn’t walk into a lampost and sighed. Telling Mahiru a bit more about his family wasn’t too troublesome if it kept him from trying to chase another rat or wander off down a side street again.

“Only ever met one of them.” He said, thinking of his father who had tried to juggle being a workaholic with being a dad. He hadn’t exactly succeeded since Kuro and his siblings had raised each other more than anything but at least he’d given enough of a shit to try and he’d never forgotten a birthday. “Think of a weapon obsessed mad scientist holding a ‘father of the year’ mug and wearing a lab coat full of his youngest kids doodles and that pretty much covers it.”

“Can he change into chair like Lily? Or a coffin like Hugh? Or… or a knife like Ryusei? Wait, you’re not related to him.”

Kuro shook his head. Mahiru had moved on from his own fingers now to poking at Kuro’s, still paying no attention where he was going and almost walking into a hedge.

“Not a weapon.”

“Then maybe your mom was a broom to.”

“Who knows...” He curled his fingers around Mahiru’s own as the idiot tried to blindly wander in a different direction. “You could tell me we all hatched from eggs and I wouldn’t immediately rule it out. I have no idea who my old man went around knocking up to end up with all eight of us and I’ve never cared to ask. Too troublesome. Like you. Now quit struggling.”

“But I could go that way.”

“No.”

Trying to drag Mahiru along without losing his grip or breaking his fingers, Kuro tried to ignore the small stab of worry he’d been feeling ever since Mahiru had thrown him aside. Everyone that had been found after a failed pursuit was always fine by lunchtime the following day but there was hearing about strangers being affected and then seeing someone you knew acting strange. There was something unpleasantly unnerving about it.

He felt a small tug when Mahiru abruptly stopped and he turned to get a look at his meister’s face. “Mahiru?” As soon as he turned him around though, all he got was that same look of dazed confusion he’d got an hour before.

“Kuro… what are your parents like?”

And Kuro’s stomach did an uncomfortable churn. The same way he’d forgotten why they were out tonight, Mahiru had forgotten what they’d just been talking about.

“Ok, that’s it. We’re heading to the school whether you like it or not.” Resigning himself to manual labour, Kuro grabbed his meister and hefted him over his shoulder with a grunt. He’d been trying to subtly lead Mahiru back to the DWMA without him realising by taking a less familiar route, but Kuro honestly couldn’t deal with Mahiru not acting like Mahiru anymore and just wanted the night to end.

If certain friends or siblings had been here, they likely would have been laughing to the point of tears at the state of his meister. But for Kuro, all Mahiru’s glassy eyed antics did was tempt him to tie him to a street sign and come back for him in the morning.

“Kuro, can I lick you?”

Seriously. If this had happened just a few months ago, Mahiru would have been tied up outside of deathbucks already and Kuro would have been home enjoying a nice hot bath. The idiot was lucky feelings had happened.

“Don't be gross.”

“But you’re soaked and I’m wearing your coat and I feel bad but cats can lick themselves dry, right?”

“You remember cat trivia but not why we’re outside...”

“Yeah.” He started wiggling, forcing Kuro to tighten his hold, and flapped two sopping wet coat sleeves at him. It made Kuro wince as they slapped against the back of his legs, the impact against his equally wet jeans causing an unpleasant sting. “Want your coat back then?”

“No. Now stop talking and stop doing that.”

Something was seriously wrong with the universe when Kuro had to be the adult.

\--------

A little after 2am, Mahiru had escaped.

Kuro had carried him all the way to the basketball courts before Mahiru decided he was done being carried like a potato sack and squirmed his way to freedom.

Admittedly, it was mostly Kuro’s fault. Mahiru had gone fairly limp, happily chatting to himself and poking at Kuro for a good twenty minutes and as a result, Kuro had loosened his grip. Staying tense and gripping tightly got exhausting after a while and made his arms sore, so he’d figured Mahiru had accepted his fate and that just one arm around his thighs was enough.

And it was, until it suddenly wasn’t.

Mahiru’s sudden thrashing had been so out of the blue and so without warning that not even Kuro’s reflexes were enough to stop them tumbling to the ground. And by the time Kuro got his bearings, having smacked his head off a bench going down, Mahiru was already vanishing around a street corner.

That had been about 15 minutes ago and Kuro had been trying to find him ever since, tracking the familiar pulses of his souls wavelength and even asking a drunk couple stumbling home from a bar if they’d seen a guy in a blue coat.

Eventually, he caught up enough that he could practically taste Mahiru’s wavelength but said catching up had apparently happened a little too late because he could hear fighting.

Picking up his pace, Kuro followed the noise and rounded the next corner fully expecting to fight, so he was rather surprised when he rounded the corner to see Mahiru smoothly duck under a punch intended for his face before pivoting on his heel and driving his elbow deep into the gut of the very man responsible for drugging him, forcing him to double over with a harsh, coughing wheeze.

Kuro had assumed that due to Mahiru’s initial unsteadiness, non-existent attention span and general drug induced blah-ness that he wasn’t in any condition to fight. It was why he hadn’t left him alone and why he’d never tried to pursue the vandal when he’d fled. But clearly that assumption had been wrong, because not only was Mahiru fighting as he normally did, the pain in the ass was actually winning.

It didn’t seem to matter that there was a considerable height difference or that Mahiru was easily outweighed by at least 40 pounds. He was winning to a point that it was less of a fight and more a one sided beating.

The tension draining out of him so fast it was almost dizzying, Kuro watched Mahiru brutally knee the man in the side before he covered his face with his hand and groaned, the sound low and heartfelt. If he’d known Mahiru could still pull this shit off he would have given chase earlier. He would have given chase, set Mahiru on the guy and… and...

God, they could have been home _hours_ ago.

The realisation cut him deep and he spent the next few seconds just leaving Mahiru to it as he tiredly slumped against a nearby wall. It was an undignified position full of resignation and self pity and he stayed that way until curses and yells of pain faded out in favour of a confused squawk.

Lifting his head, Kuro looked to the pair and slumped down further. The fight had ended.

But now Mahiru was hugging the vandal.

“Uh…” Luckily for Kuro, instead of taking the chance to hurt his meister, the incredibly roughed up vandal seemed even more surprised than he was, looking down at the weird kid hugging him with wide, frightened eyes while Mahiru gave him a stern look in return.

“What are you hugging criminals for?” Kuro forced himself to ask and Mahiru looked over his shoulder at him with a shrug.

“Wanted to see if I could squeeze out the evil.”

Kuro closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose. He couldn’t even take pictures as proof of this ridiculousness because his phone was at home.

“And are you?”

“Don’t know. Hugging you is better though.”

“Uh huh....”

Kuro didn’t think the sleeper hold Mahiru put him in this morning while bitching about empty snack packets really counted as a hug, but he kept his mouth shut and instead just eyed the pair. He knew he was best trying to separate them in case Mahiru suddenly no longer had the upper hand because the surprise had already faded from the vandal’s face and he was trying to squirm out of Mahiru’s surprisingly strong bear hug. If he had more of that misty crap on him, he hadn’t been able to use it yet but Kuro didn’t want to chance Mahiru being double dosed with the stuff.

“Hey, quit struggling.” Mahiru frowned at him, like he hadn’t ignored that very same line from Kuro at least seven times tonight.

“Then let me go!”

“No, you’re bad.”

“At least you paid attention to something tonight…” Kuro grumbled and then watched as Mahiru decided he was done hugging and hooked his ankle around vandal’s leg while shifting his weight. This made the man lose his balance and fall, though Mahiru let go before he could go down with him and within seconds of the vandal splashing down on the wet ground, Mahiru was sat on him and painfully twisting his arms behind his back.

“Ah- OW! That hurts you lunatic! You’re gonna dislocate my shoulder! Stop!”

It was actually a little fun to watch, if Kuro ignored the echo of ‘coulda done this hours ago’ that still drifted through his thoughts.

“You gave up on the cuddle approach pretty quick.” He noted, completely apathetic to the man’s wails and ignoring them in favour of reaching around Mahiru and into his pocket to pull out the handcuffs they’d been issued to help restrain the criminal once they caught him.

Mahiru didn’t give a reason for his actions though, instead he just stared at the guy he was using as a seat before looking to his weapon, his grip released once the cuffs were in place.

“Hey Kuro… why are we outside when it’s raining?”

Recognising the line’s familiarity, Kuro just gave him a tired look before nudging him off the screaming vandal. “Because you’re a sadist and you promised to buy me three new games and let me sleep in for the next two weeks if we took a midnight stroll.”

“I did?” Mahiru, naive, not in his right mind and ever so trusting, watched Kuro yank their whimpering captive to his feet without a shred of his usual scrutiny.

“You did.”

“Oh. Ok then.”

“No, not ‘ok then’!” Said captive was a little less accepting. “I can’t believe you let that little fucker almost break my arms! Isn’t that police brutality? I can sue!”

Using a tight grip on the vandals shirt to pull him along and a much gentler hold on Mahiru’s wrist to make sure he came to, Kuro conveyed just how little he cared with a single half lidded look.

“Do we look like policemen to you?”

He’d had to spend the night flying in the rain and then looking after an out of it meister. He was soaked to the skin, tired, hungry and so completely out of patience that if this had happened to any meister that wasn’t Mahiru, he’d have left them to their own devices hours ago. But it had happened to Mahiru, because _of course_ it had, and Kuro was so out of everything that he couldn’t even muster the will to get mad about it, nevermind give a damn about the bastard responsible for it all.

“And don’t yell at Kuro.” Mahiru seemed able to give a damn though. At least enough to give the criminal a sour look for 0.5 seconds before he was distracted by Kuro’s hand which he proceeded to curiously poke at as they walked.

Funny how the guy could complain about being pursued by a kid and having his arms twisted but hadn't said a thing about said kid completely kicking his ass...

\-----

By the time the clock struck three the rain had faded off to a light drizzle and Kuro had done it. Without losing Mahiru, letting the vandal escape or going insane, he had done finally it.

He’d made it back to the DWMA.

It was a moment of truly great success because he, professional lazy ass and full time dodger of unwanted responsibility, had got not only himself but two other unwilling parties to the final goal.

Yet, instead of triumph... all Kuro felt was defeat.

On Kuro’s left, Mahiru stood holding his hand. Swinging it idly back and forth as he watched a cat lick its paw under the shelter of an awning. On his right, still held firm and unable to escape Kuro’s hold, the vandal stood looking sulky and put out. And in front… in front lay the colossal hill of white Kuro had hated for the last three years.

It was hard to feel the thrill of accomplishment when he’d forgotten about the staircase of suffering that led to the school’s entrance.

And Kuro just… he couldn’t do it. It was too much. Just the thought of having to drag the two dead weights behind him up a staircase so long it actually broke at least two first year students every year… He just, couldn’t. He seriously could not deal with another thing.

“Mahiru…” His voice sounded hollow, even to himself. His gaze unmoving from the mountain before him. “We’re done.”

“Hm?” Mahiru was more interested in the cat than his weapon’s crushed spirit, but that was ok.

“Seriously. We’re done.”

“Ok.”

“We’re going home.”

“Is that guy coming to?”

Kuro slowly turned his head towards the captive, his eyes so blank the man balked and proceeded to avoid eye contact.

“No he is not.”

“You’re letting me go?” Was the hopeful, if not wary question and Kuro shook his head while taking a heavy risk by releasing his meister’s hand.

“Mahiru, go pet the cat or something.”

Thankfully, Mahiru did as he was told, giving Kuro both hands free for what he was about to do. The vandal, clocking on to his intentions, paled and attempted to flee but he didn’t get far. His scream lost to the sound of the still pouring rain.

A few minutes later, Kuro finished re-securing the man’s handcuffs to keep him in his new spot and, after quickly making sure the man had nothing dangerous on his person, considered his job as good as done. Ignoring all muffled cries of outrage he then directed what little will he had left towards wrangling his meister, and a stray cat that apparently wanted more chin scratches enough to risk getting wet, towards home. Because screw the DWMA, Mahiru could just sleep this off.

Come morning, a receptionist for the DWMA missions office would head in for her early shift to find one of Death City’s currently most wanted pests handcuffed to a street light at the very base of the DWMA’s (in)famous staircase. He would be soaked, bruised and fast asleep with one of his own socks stuffed into his mouth and he’d actually cry a little once the lady woke him up.

As for Kuro and Mahiru, neither would show up to their classes that day and a few worried friends would check on the pair to find them still dead asleep at 4pm. Mahiru would sleep through their knocking, their phone calls and their mild breaking and entering, but Kuro would get up long enough to assure the noisy idiots that they were alive before going back to bed and nobody would question the large, empty tub of ice cream on the bedroom floor or the little black cat sleeping curled up beside it.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time since this one was updated but not for lack of writing. The chapter subject just kept constantly veering of this story's main theme so I couldn't really count what I was writing as the next chapter. They could get posted when this is done as part of a series thingy though. 
> 
> Also, competent fighter Mahiru is best Mahiru, even if the poor little sausage isn't really sure whats going on. In the manga he's new to this whole combat thing but learning fast. In this, he's been fighting a hell of a lot longer and it shows, but it helps that he's a noodly thing that probably gets underestimated a lot so I doubt most normal folk even see that first hit coming.


End file.
